


Joey Drew's D&D Club

by phantomthief_fee



Series: BATIM Drabbles [4]
Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Basically the whole game is a campaign by Joey Drew, D&D Club AU, F/F, F/M, M/M, Rated teen because of swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-28
Updated: 2018-03-02
Packaged: 2019-03-10 11:12:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13500630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phantomthief_fee/pseuds/phantomthief_fee
Summary: What if the whole video game was just a D&D campaign by a bunch of high schoolers?





	1. Characters

“Critical failure! Bendy ignores your offering and attacks you instead! Roll to see if you survive!” 

And I made an AU. The story comes after this. 

* * *

The Story: All the named studio characters are actually teenagers in a D&D club at their high school. Joey is the president and the DM. His latest campaign is based on the characters of his best friend, Henry. Henry’s dream is to become an animator someday, so Joey thought about what it would be like if the two of them started a studio together and things went wrong. 

Joey: Third-year president of the D&D club. He and Henry started the D&D club together when they were first years and have been keeping it going ever since. He’s wheelchair-bound due to health issues, but he tries not to let it get to him too much. Joey’s been planning the Bendy And The Ink Machine campaign for years. He started planning it when they started the club and had Sammy and Wally join, eventually adding in more and more characters as more people joined. He’s had a bit of a crush on Henry for years. 

Henry: Third-year vice president of the D&D club. He’s been Joey’s best friend since they were in kindergarten. He protected Joey a lot from bullies when they were little. Both were targets for bullying until Henry started taking boxing lessons. He created Bendy, Boris, and Alice for a school project when he was in first or second grade, and held on to them ever since. He was willing to allow Joey to use his characters in the campaign as long as he himself was allowed to help write it. He has a crush on Joey too, but he hasn’t had the courage to confess. 

Grant: Third year and treasurer for the club. He attends every meeting but sits in the corner instead of playing. Grant didn’t so much join as show up one day and demand to see the club’s finances. He handles the club’s money and will not let Joey touch it under any circumstances. He used to be a part of the mathlete team. No one’s sure why he quit and joined the D&D club, but he did.

Sammy: Third year and member of the school orchestra and secretary of the D&D club.  He’s a second chair violin, something that previously drove him crazy. Sammy can be a little bit of a perfectionist sometimes, but being in the D&D club has allowed him to relax a little more. His parents can be a bit overbearing, but as Sammy’s gotten older and shown more independence, they’ve backed off. Sammy has crushes on both Norman and Susie and is very conflicted. 

Wally: Second year and friendly rival of Sammy. The two like bickering with each other a lot. Wally was one of the first people to join the D&D club, behind Sammy that is. He’s a giant nerd and loves D&D. He begged Joey to let him DM a campaign their second year running, and he blew it out of the park. Joey’s been trying to groom him to the next president of the club.

Shawn: Second year and Wally’s boyfriend. He comes along to the club to spend time with Wally and to have a quiet place to work on the plushes he makes. He moved to America from Ireland when he was about 12 with his family after his father was offered a job here. He has a little sister who goes to the same school. She drops by sometimes to tease him.

Susie: Third year and member of both the school choir and D&D club. She joined the club because she heard Sammy was in the club. She likes him a lot, although she isn’t sure whether or not it’s romantic. She likes both him and Allison. She tries to come to the club as much as she can, but the choir is very demanding and she wants to be the best singer she possibly can. 

Thomas: Fourth year and Grant’s boyfriend. He’s not technically part of the club, but he shows up a lot to hang out with Grant and judge everyone. 

Norman: Fourth year and the club’s resident cameraman. He’s an aspiring filmmaker and likes taping the club’s sessions. He only occasionally plays in the campaigns, even though Joey has been trying to pressure him into playing so he can matchmake Norman and Sammy. Norman is completely unaware of Sammy’s crush on him.

Allison: Second year and, like Susie, a member of both the school choir and D&D club. She worships the ground Susie walks on and wants to be just like her. She joined the D&D club to be closer to Susie. She comes to the club more than Susie does because she’s a backup singer in the choir. She’s surprisingly good at D&D. Eventually, she becomes Grant and Thomas’ girlfriend.

Lacie Benton: Fourth-year vice president of the school’s robotics team. When it comes to building machines, there’s no one better. She and Bertram work very well together. Bertram designs the machines and she builds them. Together, they’re unstoppable. She also helps keep his ego in check most of the time.   

Jack Fain: Third year and Sammy’s best friend since preschool. He’s in the orchestra with Sammy and also plays the violin. He’s not officially in the D&D club, but he does drop by a lot to see what Sammy’s up to. He was Sammy’s only friend up until the end of middle school when Sammy met Henry and Joey. He’s happy that Sammy’s making more friends.

Bertram Piedmont: Fourth-year president of the school’s robotics team and Lacie’s boyfriend. While also not a part of the D&D club, he drops by every so often because he does play D&D in his spare time and is curious about how Joey is handling his campaign. Not to mention Joey really admires him and Bertram likes to bask in the praise Joey lavishes upon him. He could do without being called ‘Bertie’ though.

Cordelia Bell: First year and Sammy’s biggest fan. She joined the D&D club because she likes D&D, getting in even after kicking Joey in the knee when she first met him (he asked her if she was a lost middle schooler). She immediately developed a little bit of a crush on Sammy, one that faded after about a year of being around him. She ended up developing a healthy respect for him.

Roy Bell: Third year and a part of the drama club. He only shows up to the club to pick up his sister and menace Joey. He doesn’t actually hate Joey, but he finds it funny to watch him squirm. In his defense, Joey is a very expressive person.


	2. Chapter 2

Joey leaned over the board, a sinister smile on his face. 

“Is everyone ready…” Joey paused, looking around the table. “For Bendy And The Ink Machine?” He pitched his voice lower so that it sounded more menacing. The assembled members of the club looked between one another. Sammy, Henry, Susie, Wally, and Joey all sat crowded around the table, the board spread out before them. In the corner, Grant was compiling a spreadsheet on Thomas’ lap and Shawn was working on some crochet. 

“Come on.” Joey leaned back in his seat. “You all could at least  _act_ excited. I’ve been working on this for years!”

“We are excited,” Sammy said. “You’re just being weird and overdramatic.” 

“It’s what he does.” Henry shrugged and patted Joey’s shoulder. Joey made a small disgruntled noise. 

“Alright, let’s do this.” He said, clearing his throat. “The stage…Joey Drew Studios!”

“Remind me why you’re the boss again?” Wally asked. 

“He’s the only one who could believably fuck things up this badly.” Shawn didn’t even look up from his crochet. 

“We needed a scapegoat and I figured I was the best one.” Joey smiled calmly. “You would all believably curse my name, wouldn’t you?”

“If all this shit happened? Definitely.” Susie nodded. “But you know we love you, right?”

“You’re irritating as shit, but you are our friend.” Sammy agreed.

“I think that’s about the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me,” Joey said brightly. “Just for that, I’m going to keep you alive!”

“Wait, you were going to kill me off?!”

“Eeeh. I was thinking of it.”

“Joey!” 

“Anyway, back to the campaign.” Joey moved on. “Henry has returned to the studio after 30 years, and the rest of you have turned into inky abominations because of me.”

“Makes sense.” Everyone chorused. Henry was the only one who’d ever actually come back when faced with a letter from Joey.

“So, you enter the studio.” Joey hunkered over the table, trying to set the mood. “There’s ink everywhere and the lights aren’t working. It’s dark and smells musty. What do you do?” 

“I investigate the studio.”

“Roll for investigation.” 

Henry shook the dice in his hands then rolled them. 

“2.” He sighed. 

“You find your desk,” Joey said. “There are a lot of cobwebs around it.” Most of the first hour of the campaign was dedicated to Henry exploring the first floor of the studio. Joey gave him a fetch quest, which bored everyone at the table who wasn’t Henry. It was when Henry fell through the floor near the front door and descended deeper into the bowels of the studio that everyone got interested again. 

“Alright, Sammy, this is your level.” Joey waved to Sammy. “We’ll run Henry’s path parallel to yours.”

“I take my axe and chop down the boards blocking the entrance to the music department,” Henry said. 

“Roll strength.”

“12.”

“You manage to remove a good portion of the boards in your way.” Joey smiled mischievously. “Do you dare enter the domain of the Prophet?”

“Yes.”

Henry went on another series of fetch quests while Sammy watched him and planned his sacrifice to his lord. Sammy failed a few stealth quests that caused a Searcher to spawn and attack Henry, which Henry mostly dealt with unscathed. Then they got to the very end of the music department arc. 

“Alright, Henry’s exiting your office,” Joey said, ready to move on to the next part of the campaign. “What do you do?”

“I hit him over the head with a wrench.” 

“Roll strength.”

Sammy muttered to himself as he did so, praying for a favourable roll. 

“…6.”

“Well, he goes down,” Joey said. “You have to hit him again if you want him to stay down for awhile.”

“Am I going to get concussed from this?” Henry asked. “Because I feel like I’m going to get concussed.”

“You do this every time.” Wally groaned. 

“Sometimes he adds in health systems!” Henry protested as Sammy rolled the dice and managed to knock his character out. 

“Alright, Henry’s down. What do you do with him?” Joey asked. 

“I pick him up and take him to my ritual circle, where I tie him up,” Sammy said, perhaps a bit more smugly than he should have. 

“So, Henry wakes up tied to a pole and you’re in front of him.” Joey turned to Henry. “What do you do?”

“Alright, I say, ‘ _What the fuck? Sammy?’”_

“Do I recognize him?” Sammy asked, looking over at Joey.

“You do not.” 

Sammy nodded. “I say, ‘ _Silence, sheep! The time of sacrifice is at hand! I must have him notice me_!’”

“Very ominous.” Susie didn’t look up from filing her nails. Wally was asleep on the table. Sammy glowered and kicked him under the table. 

“Wha-?! I’m up!” Wally looked around wildly. “What’d I miss?”

“Sammy’s being a weird cultist,” Joey said brightly.

“Okay, fine, since this is boring everyone, I go into my recording booth and start broadcasting,” Sammy said. “ _Sheep sheep sheep, it’s time for sleep. Rest your head, it’s time for bed. In the morning you may wake, or in the morning you’ll be dead. Hear me, Bendy! Arise and claim this tender sheep! Free me! I beg of you!_ ”

“Bendy appears to you.” Joey put on a proper menacing tone. “Roll to see if he accepts your offering.”

Sammy rolled, swearing as he saw the number on the die. 

“1.”

“Critical failure! Bendy ignores your offering and attacks you instead! Roll to see if you survive!” 

“Ugh, fine,” Sammy grumbled, grabbing the dice again. He shook them and threw them onto the table. As soon as he saw the result he stood up and whooped. 

“Yes! Take that, Joey!” He said. “I survived! Nat 20!”

“Oookay.” Joey nodded slowly. “Didn’t think you’d survive that. Alright, Bendy hoists you up by your neck and growls,” Joey cleared his throat and put on a gravelly voice. “ _This sacrifice is not for you. He is mine to end._ ”

“Alright. I tell him,  _I meant no offence, my Lord_.” Sammy said. “ _I only wished to please you!_ ”

“Meanwhile, I run like hell,” Henry muttered, rolling his dice. “Fuck. I got a 7.” Joey cackled and rubbed his hands together. 

“Bendy drops Sammy and goes after you.” He grinned at Henry. “Roll to escape!”

“Hey, when do I get to come in?” Wally asked. “I’ve been sitting here this whole time.”

“If Henry survives, you’ll come in soon,” Joey assured him, waving a hand dismissively. “Now roll those dice, Henry!” Henry sighed and rolled his dice. 

“Oh, good.” He relaxed when he saw the result. “18.”

“You successfully escape Bendy, running deeper into the studio,” Joey said. “As you catch your breath, a can of bacon soup rolls out. And…” He did a drum roll on the table. “Boris the Wolf walks out!”

“WHAT’S UP?!” Wally got up, fist pumping. 

“Also, you don’t get to talk,” Joey added. 

“Wait, why not?” Wally asked. “Everyone else gets to talk.”

“It’s part of your tragic backstory.”

“This is bullshit!”

“The buses are coming, you should wrap this up,” Grant said from where he sat. 

“Well, we’ll continue next time.” Joey began packing everything up. “I think that was a very productive first session. I have so much planned for you, Susie, rest assured.”

“I better get to be a good villain.” She said as she got her backpack.

“Oh, you do. Trust me, you do.”


	3. Chapter 3

I wanted to give the second prompt from [@magicalmonsterhero](https://tmblr.co/mctfDpl6LStDVGfHpM3ZLTA) ‘s first submission its own post.

* * *

It was a Saturday afternoon and the D&D club was gathered at Joey’s house. Their all-knowing DM was sick and they’d all gathered to take care of him. Joey’s parents had both been called in for emergencies at work, so the kids had volunteered to stay with Joey until they got back. To pass the time they were figuring out some of the complexities of their new campaign. 

“Okay, how about the ink is cursed, and slowly Toonifies those who get exposed too much? Joey would probably be planning to use that in some way, of course…” Henry suggested. 

“Man, this campaign is heavy on the body horror,” Wally muttered. “Have you guys been watching Cronenberg or some shit?”

“At least your character isn’t some weird inky abomination,” Sammy said. 

“I’m a cartoon wolf! How is that any better?!”

“Boys, settle down,” Susie said. “You’re going to wake up Joey.” They all looked over at their club president. He was asleep but sleeping rather fitfully. Joey’s immune system had never been particularly stellar. He always got sick around flu season. 

“Sorry.” Both Wally and Sammy mumbled. 

“Anyway, that’s a good idea. But what do you plan to do with our characters?” Norman sat down at the table, setting a plate of chicken nuggets on the table. He’d been making snacks to keep everyone fed. 

“Well, I was thinking that all your characters were on the road to toondom, but you didn’t have either the creativity or determination to survive to become a toon,” Henry explained. “Sammy had enough determination to survive, but not enough creativity to reinvent himself. Susie and Wally had enough creativity to reinvent themselves but not enough determination to come out with their identities intact.”

“What about me?” Norman asked. 

“You were a first try for Joey,” Henry said, beginning to write everything he’d been thinking down on paper. “He was trying to silence you. He didn’t care what happened.”

“You really thought this through.” Wally took a chicken nugget and chewed on it. “Are you sure you don’t want to be a writer?”

“Well, any good animator needs to have a story.” Henry flushed slightly. 

“Joey will definitely want to hear about this when he wakes up.” Susie glanced back at Joey, who’d curled up into a little ball.

“You never told us about what would happen to your character.” Sammy suddenly said. “Do you get turned into a toon?”

“I do.” Henry nodded. “But only because I had more time to prepare and come up with a new form for myself. But even then, I still have to worry about becoming a full toon and losing myself.”

“Scary.” Wally said. 

“Yeah, it is a little dark.” Henry laughed tiredly. “But the whole campaign is kinda dark.”

“We’re studying existentialism in my English class, so this is good for me.” Norman sat back against the couch.

“Don’t you get to watch The Matrix?” Susie asked. “I heard from one of the other choir girls that Miss Schmidt’s English class gets to watch it for their existentialism unit.” 

“I do.” Norman said with a smug smile. Wally and Sammy narrowed their eyes, glaring at Norman. Norman just hummed to himself. 


	4. Chapter 4

Another prompt by [@magicalmonsterhero](https://tmblr.co/mctfDpl6LStDVGfHpM3ZLTA) which I’ve turned into another instalment of the D&D club.

* * *

“Alright.” Joey rubbed his hands together gleefully. “You enter Alice’s sanctuary and are immediately greeted by dozens of dead Boris’ and Butcher Gang members, all strapped to operating tables. The floor beyond you is flooded with ink, the other side of the room connected by a thin bridge of boards. What do you do?” 

“Remind me, why are we in the game again?” Shawn asked, looking up from his crochet. 

“I needed employees,” Joey waved a hand dismissively. Allison was present this time since she and Susie were appearing in the campaign at this point. She squeezed Susie’s hand and giggled. 

“I start walking across the boards.” Henry rolled to make sure he didn’t fall into the ink. He rolled a 12, so he stumbled it a bit, but he made it over. 

“As you make your way over the boards, you hear the voice of Alice Angel.” Joey gestured to the girls.

_“Look around,_ ” Susie said. “ _It took so many of them to make me so beautiful. Anything less than perfect was left behind_.”

“ _I had to do it. She made me._ ” Allison whispered. 

“Yeesh, I got goosebumps,” Wally grinned. “You two are pretty good.”

“We dabble in theatre~” Susie flipped her hair and smiled smugly. Allison flushed, starting to play with her hair. 

“Oh, so what are you doing, Wally?” Joey looked over at him. “Henry’s headed to Alice, but what are you doing when confronted with all this?”

“I’m staring at a dead clone and contemplating my existence,” Wally replied without missing a beat. 

“Sammy would be proud to hear you using such big words,” Grant said. Sammy was out sick that day, and thus hadn’t been able to make it to the club meeting.

“I can use big words!” Wally snapped. 

“He’s certainly a smart dog.” Thomas snickered, the barest of smiles gracing his face. 

“I’ll show you a dog!” Wally jumped to his feet, rolling up his sleeves. Henry sighed and tried to talk Wally down while Joey discussed with Allison and Susie the next part of the campaign. 

“Oh my God, you’re all a bunch of nerds.” A voice came from the doorway of the classroom. 

“Bold words from the president of the drama club.” Joey didn’t even look up, he already knew who was there.  Roy Bell stepped inside, adjusting his bowtie. They went to a public school, why did he even wear bowties?

“Fair enough.” Roy shrugged slightly. “Anyway, Dee wanted me to bring you all some food.” He held up a paper bag which smelled frankly delightful. 

“Are those cookies?” Wally gasped. “Please tell me they’re cookies.”

“They’re cookies.” Roy rolled his eyes and smiled. Wally immediately bounded up and grabbed the bag, taking it back to the table. 

“You better not get crumbs on my board,” Joey said. “I worked hard to set this up.”

“Remember to share too.” Henry chided him. “We all like the cookies.” Shawn, Grant, and Thomas all got up to wrestle a few cookies away as well. Roy used this distraction to get out of there before anyone could drag him into the game. Allison laughed softly as she watched everyone.

“Boys, honestly.” Susie rolled her eyes. 

“Thank you.” Allison rested her head on Susie’s shoulder. 

“For what?” Susie asked. 

“For getting me to join.” Allison smiled up at her. “This really is a lot of fun. I’m glad you talked me into this.” She’d been a little sceptical at first. She’d never played D&D before and thus hadn’t known what to expect. But she was really enjoying herself. And it was nice to spend time with Susie. 

“No problem.” Susie smiled back.

**Author's Note:**

> This whole thing was inspired by a prompt from the lovely MsFaust on Tumblr.


End file.
